Anzac Biscuits

These are wonderful cookies, extremely crispy on the first day; they become softer with time; both ways they taste absolutely delicious!!! The name of the cookies Anzac stands for Australia and New Zealand Army Corps. Their origin is not clear, however, it is said that these long-keeping cookies were baked by Australian/New Zealand women during the WW I for the soldiers fighting overseas.

I made the cookies for Taste & Create food blog event hosted by Nicole from For the Love Of Food blog. The rules of the event are simple- Nicole pairs you with another food blogger and then you have to cook something using a recipe from your partner's blog. This month I’ve been paired with Allen from Eating Out Loud blog. Allen has lots of wonderful recipes on his blog from which I’ve chosen Anzac biscuits. I’d come across the recipe for these cookies on a few other food blogs before and really wanted to try them, and since there’s Anzac Day in Australian and New Zealand on 25^th April, it was a perfect timing.

I baked the cookies twice. First time I followed the recipe from Allen's blog almost exactly (the only change I made was replacing golden syrup with maple syrup as the first one is quite hard to find in Poland). Even though the cookies came out tasty, they had some soda aftertaste that I didn’t like. So, I baked the cookies once again adapting the recipe slightly. I reduced the amount of baking soda in the recipe, I used cane sugar in place of white sugar and added a little bit of sea salt. The cookies came out perfect, very crispy at the edges and a little chewy inside without the soda aftertaste. The addition of sea salt makes these cookies very similar to my favorite Polish oat cookies Złotoksłose sold in grocery stores here. Delicious!!!

Here’s my adapted version of the recipe, Allen's recipe can be found on his blog here. I used Demerara sugar in this recipe, but regular sugar or brown sugar will work well too. If like meyou have trouble finding golden syrup, maple syrup or honey will make a nice substitution. Enjoy!!!

Anzac Biscuits

makes about 36 cookies

1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
3/4 cup desiccated coconut
3/4 cup flour
1 cup cane sugar
8 tbsp (115 g) unsalted butter
2 tbsp golden syrup
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 tbsp boiling water
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1. Preheat the oven to 160 C (320 F). Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

2. In a large bowl, mix the flour, oats, coconut, and sea salt.

3. Combine the baking soda and boiling water in a small bowl to dissolve.

4. In a small pan over low heat combine the butter and golden (or maple) syrup or honey.

5. Remove from the heat and stir in baking soda and water mixture.

6. Pour into the bowl containing the dry ingredients and stir.

7. Roll into small bowls, place on parchment generously space apart.

8. Press down with the back of a spoon to flatten.

9. Bake for 8-12 minutes or until the cookies are deep golden brown on top.

Print the recipe

Recipe in Polish:
Ciasteczka Anzac

Granola with Cashew Nuts and Cranberries

I can't imagine a day without having breakfast in the morning . I'm always very hungry when I wake up and can't wait to eat something tasty. One of my favorite breakfast recipe is homemade granola. It's not only healthier than cereals from a grocery store, but also tastes better. What I like most about homemade granola though is that you can add whatever you want to it, the number of possible combinations is countless. The inspiration for today’s granola comes from Design Sponge blog. I've made a few changes to the original recipe, but the result remained the same, amazingly crunchy and absolutely delicious:)

Notes to the recipe: The original recipe, which can be found here , was made with honey, not maple syrup. I used maple syrup as I think it pairs better with cranberries, but you can, of course, use honey if that’s more convenient for you. I didn't want my granola to be very sweet, so I didn't use much sugar. Feel free to add more sugar if that suits your taste. I like this granola most with plain soy milk, but you can have it with regular milk or yoghurt as well.

Granola with Cashew Nuts and Cranberries

3 cups rolled oats
1/4 raw sunflower seeds
1/2 cup sliced almonds
3/4 cup raw cashews
1/3 cup oil
1/3 cup maple syrup
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 cup dried cranberries

1. Preheat the oven to 180 C (350 F).
2. Combine all the ingredients, except for cranberries, in a large bowl.
3. Spread out on a cookie sheet.
4. Bake for about 20 minutes, stirring and turning occasionally, until toasty golden brown.
5. After baking, allow to cool thoroughly. Stir in the cranberries. Store in an airtight container or glass jar at room temperature.

Przepis po polsku:
Granola z orzechami nerkowca i żurawiną

Raspberry Streusel Muffins

The first time I made these delicious muffins was in Canada last summer. In Canada there are raspberry fields where you can go with your own basket and pick up as many raspberries as you want. Then the raspberries you've picked up are weighted and you pay for them. Picking up raspberries this way is much cheaper than buying them in a grocery store and so much more fun. Both I and my husband love raspberries, so we loved to go to pick up raspberries together and try new raspberry recipes after. Some of our favorite recipes were Grilled Salmon with Raspberry Sauce, Raspberry and White Chocolate Tart (delicious, but rather expensive if you buy raspberries in a grocery store), and these lovely muffins. I made them again last week with frozen raspberries and streusel topping with cardamom and the result was absolutely awesome!!! The sweet and spicy flavor of the streusel topping is just a perfect complement to the moist and fruity muffins. The idea of using cardamon in raspberry muffins comes from Dagmar from A Cat In the Kitchen food blog who also made raspberry and cardamon muffins with crumbles a few weeks ago. The recipe for my muffins comes from one of the cookbooks from Le cordon Bleu series published by Könemann. The only thing I’ve changed was the streusel topping; the original one was made without oat meal and spices.

Notes to the recipe: You can use either fresh or frozen raspberries in this recipe. If you use frozen raspberries, do not thaw them as they will color the batter pink. If you don't have raspberries, I suspect the muffins would also be delicious with bluberries, bilberries, or strawberries.

RASPBERRY STREUSEL MUFFINS

FOR THE MUFFINS:
375 g flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
pinch of salt
115 g brown sugar
150 g raspberries (fresh or frozen)
2 eggs
250 ml (2 cups) milk
125 g butter, melted

FOR THE STREUSEL TOPPING:
50 g butter, melted
50 g flour
50 g rolled oats
50 g brown sugar
½ teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon cardamon

1. Heat the oven to 210 C (410 F). Grease or line 12 muffin cups.
2. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a large bowl. Add the sugar and raspberries and stir. Make a well in the centre.
3. In a small jug beat lightly eggs and milk.
4. Pour the egg mixture and melted butter into the well. Mix gently with a metal spoon just until the ingredients are combined. Do not overmix, the batter should be lumpy .
5. Spoon into the muffin pan filling ¾ full.
6. To make streusel topping, combine oat, brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, and cardamon in a small bowl. Pour in hot melted butter; stir to combine into crumbs. Sprinkle mixture evenly over top of each muffin.
7. Bake the muffins for 30 minutes or until a tooth pick comes out clean. Cool in pan 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack.

Przepis po polsku:

Malinowe mufinki z kruszonką